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BANKING
• KeyBank has named Drew Yergensen as Utah market president and commercial banking sales leader, effective Jan. 1. A 10-year veteran of KeyBank, Yergensen currently serves as senior vice president and commercial banking sales leader for Utah. As market president, Yergensen will drive collaboration and coordination of KeyBank activities and resources in the market, as well as serve as the face and voice of the bank in the community. He will oversee the bank’s four core lines of business: commercial, private, business and retail banking. As commercial banking sales leader, he will continue to lead KeyBank’s efforts to serve commercial banking and corporate clients in Utah. Yergensen was named senior vice president and KeyBank Utah commercial banking sales leader in 2014 after serving as vice president and senior relationship manager for more than three years. His education includes graduating from the University of Utah. Yergensen will succeed Terry Grant, who has announced his retirement after serving as KeyBank Utah Market President for nearly six years. Grant has a 35-year career in banking, joining KeyBank in 2014.
CONSTRUCTION
• Sundt Construction Inc. has hired Rodney Braegger as a senior estimator in its Salt Lake City office. Braegger has over 30 years of construction experience, most recently working as a senior estimator for a heavy-civil company. His portfolio includes numerous underground utilities and water projects. Among other roles he has held in his career include owner-managerial roles. His educational background includes estimating, accounting, management and CAD-based programs.
CORPORATE
• Co-Diagnostics Inc., a Salt Lake City-based molecular diagnostics company, has announced that its management will amend its June 30 Form 10-Q because of an incorrectly reported expense for the quarter ended June 30. The amendment, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, will show an increase in basic and diluted net income per common share of 8 cents for the quarter and the six months ended June 30. The increased net income per common share will be 51 cents.
DIRECT SALES
• Vasayo, a Pleasant Grove-based direct sales company, has appointed Troy Mohr as senior vice president of global operations. Mohr has more than three decades of experience in operations and manufacturing in both the private and public arenas. His experience includes launching new businesses and products, opening new markets, and building high-performing teams throughout the world in industries from nutrition, medical, and personal care to venture placement and heavy industry/automotive.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Nu Skin Enterprises Inc., Provo, has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 37.5 cents per share. The dividend will be paid Dec. 9 to shareholders of record Nov. 27. The Nu Skin family of companies includes Nu Skin, which develops and distributes a line of beauty and wellness products, and Rhyz, a strategic investment arm that includes a collection of sustainable manufacturing and technology innovation companies.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
• Foot traffic in Utah stores increased 2.7 percent over the two weeks ending Oct. 30, putting Utah in the top five states trending upward, according to an analysis by marketing company Zenreach. Oklahoma had the largest increase, 4.6 percent, while Wisconsin had the largest decrease, 6.4 percent.
• The U.S. Department of the Interior’s “Economic Report for Fiscal Year 2019” indicates that activities on federal lands and waters supported $336 billion in economic output and 1.9 million jobs across the country. The study highlights the department’s economic contributions that arise from managing federal lands and waters and making investments that conserve and restore natural landscapes and the cultural heritage of the nation. Departmental management of these resources facilitates private-sector activities that result in economic contributions across conventional and renewable energy, recreation, non-fuel minerals, irrigation and a wide swath of other activities. The report indicates that activities in Utah supported 49,800 jobs, had $3.9 billion of value added, and $6.7 billion in economic output. Details are at https://doi.sciencebase.gov/doidv/.
• Summit County leads Utah counties in a list of places with the largest tax refunds, compiled by financial technology company SmartAsset. The study measured the total amount of money refunded by the IRS to each county divided by the number of refunds given out in each county to determine where residents received the highest average tax refunds. Summit County was followed, in order, by Wasatch, Duchesne, Morgan, Uintah, San Juan, Davis, Rich, Salt Lake and Utah counties. Details are at https://smartasset.com/taxes/tax-return-calculator#Utah/taxReturn.
MANUFACTURING
• Theodore Global has announced it is opening a manufacturing and distribution operation in Salt Lake City. The announcement came from the Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah), the Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). The natural-products company is based in the United Kingdom and offers sparkling grape juice drinks. The operation in downtown Salt Lake City is starting with three employees, and the company projects 15 staff within two to three years. Capital expenditures associated with this project are $350,000. The company is working with The Blue Chip Group of Salt Lake City for production services. EDCUtah collaborated with Linda Gillmor of Utah’s Own to connect the company with local food industry and community resources. Michael O’Malley, marketing director, led this project for EDCUtah.
NONPROFITS
• WGU Academy, a largely independent operating unit of Western Governors University established in 2018, has become a separate nonprofit corporation. The academy said the new status provides “greater flexibility to pursue its mission of dramatically scaling college readiness solutions through service agreements and partnerships with other higher education institutions, K-12 schools, community groups, employers and foundations.” WGU Academy began enrolling students in April 2019 and has served over 10,000 people identified as needing additional preparation before enrolling full time into WGU. WGU Academy began pilot programs with other schools in 2019, including with Weber County in support of an intergenerational poverty program. The academy’s staff has grown to over 50 employees.
REAL ESTATE
• The Shop, a $14 million coworking space at 340 E. 400 S., Salt Lake City, is pre-leasing and plans to open this winter. It is the second location for The Shop, with the first having opened in 2017 in New Orleans. The developer is The Domain Cos., in partnership with Giv Development. The Shop joins Mya, Domain’s debut, mixed-income residential development in Salt Lake, and anchors a $124.3 million transit-oriented development that combines apartments, shared workspace and retailers. To advance The Shop, Domain tapped trusted financial partners. Goldman Sachs provided $7.5 million in construction financing. The project was also funded in part by a $360,000 loan from Salt Lake City. The architecture firm behind The Shop’s design is Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, with Wadman Corp. serving as the general contractor and Farouki Farouki as interior designer.
RECOGNITIONS
• Dr. Lincoln Nadauld, executive director of Intermountain Healthcare’s Precision Genomics Program, has received the Cancer Community (C2) Award for advancing precision medicine to bring more personalized treatments to cancer patients. The national C2 Awards are presented annually by biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, in partnership with Scientific American Custom Media, to honor unsung heroes of cancer care. This year there were more than 130 nominations from 31 states. The C2 Awards feature four categories: extending quality care to underserved communities, improving the patient experience, advancing precision medicine and doing something tangible and inspiring for patients. Nadauld receives $50,000 to donate to a nonprofit of his choice. He plans to give the money to Intermountain Precision Genomics.
• Ellen E. Ostrow has been named an honoree of the 2020 “40 Under 40” initiative of ABI. The initiative identifies 40 top industry professionals under age 40. The honorees will be recognized at a special virtual ceremony in February. Ostrow is with Stoel Rives LLP of Salt Lake City. Nominations were submitted earlier this year by the candidates themselves or by colleagues via the initiative’s website. More than 200 candidates were evaluated by 20 judges.
• Eisenberg, Cutt, Kendell & Olson, Salt Lake City, has been rated in the 2021 edition of “Best Law Firms” by U.S. News — Best Lawyers in tiers 1 and 2 for their legal acumen and skill. For many years, the firm has represented injured Utah residents. The selection process for U.S. News — Best Lawyers includes the use of lawyer ballots, law firm surveys and client feedback, which are analyzed and then converted into “Best Law Firms” scores. Based on these scores, practice areas and geographic regions, firms are then placed according to a three-tier ranking system. In the 2021 edition, U.S. News — Best Lawyers rated Eisenberg, Cutt, Kendell & Olson a metropolitan Tier 1 Utah firm for personal injury litigation on the side of the plaintiffs, and a metropolitan Tier 2 Utah firm for commercial litigation and insurance law. This is the second consecutive year the firm has received rankings in the publication.
• Impartner, a Salt Lake City-based provider of channel management and partner relationship management technology, has been named by Forrester as a leader in partner relationship management in “The Forrester Wave: Partner Relationship Management, Q4 2020.” The Forrester Wave evaluated 14 significant PRM providers, and Impartner received the highest possible scores in the Partner Coselling and Comarketing; Product Innovation Roadmap; and Supporting Products, Services and Ecosystem categories.
SERVICES
• Mammoth Holdings LLC, an Atlanta-based conveyor car wash operator, has acquired Papa’s Express Tunnel Car Wash, an express conveyor car wash in Saratoga Springs. Financial terms were not disclosed. Papa’s was founded by Mark Philipp and his family in 2017. With the acquisition, Mammoth has five stores in the area. It has 46 conveyor car washes in nine states.